Looking down

We are getting close to finished with the house we have been working on.

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are in. That usually means the end is in sight.

I finished the north bedroom door

and put 2 coats of polyurethane on the bedroom floors. I only have 1 coat on the living room floor yet.

I was waiting for the windows to come in from the manufacturer. Tuesday late afternoon they were delivered to Menards.

I drove down to Ottumwa on Wednesday morning to pick them up.

Got back to Oskaloosa and started carrying them into the house.

11 minutes to remove the old window and install the new one.

Did that 8 times in a row. I was impressed with myself. I was in Des Moines working on a house a couple of years back, watched 2 "professional" builders work for 2 days to install a window. I could not figure out what was taking them so long. Could it have been when one of them would take a measurement and then yell the number down to the guy on the ground, then the one up by the window to be installed would lie down on the roof for a while. Yea, that might have been one of the reasons they were not getting the job done very quickly. Even so 1 of them could have laid down the whole time and it should have not taken the other one more than an hour, tops, to finish the job. It was a wonder in unproductivity to watch. 

After the windows were in, I could start painting the outside trim. I still have the other 3 sides of the house to finish yet.

We went to Omaha with Micah and Linsey Thursday. On Friday we were driving back from a park where we had a picnic lunch. there was a sign for a Holy Shrine. I turned off and we went to look. Above is a fountain that comes down through the ceiling in the welcome center. It drops a small drizzle of water into the rock pool in the floor.

When you walk out of the welcome center you see the glass chapel ahead.

There is a stream running from the welcome center down the middle of the rock path toward the chapel.

I opened the door to the chapel thinking it would be just another tourist type of building. On opening the door I was hit with the feeling that this was a sacred and holy place. I took this picture later as I left but almost felt guilty as though by taking the picture I was violating the space. Sitting in a pew, at first I was bothered because down below the chapel you could see and hear the busy interstate. then, I got it, I understood that there was symbolism in the chapel up above the teaming traffic below. The world was churning on but I was in a safe, seemingly quiet place. It was as though we were above the world sitting in that chapel even as God is above the world watching us as we go about our busy lives. No, I am not a deist who thinks God set the world in motion and now is no longer involved in the world. I believe in the omnipresence of God and the providence of God. I know he is intimately involved in our lives every minute, but sitting there I realized that even as that traffic down below did not impact me so our busy bustling lives and world do not impact God. He is above it even though He is in control and caring for each of us. We were short on time but each one of us wished we could have stayed longer.

Back in Oskaloosa late this afternoon, had a tree that had tipped over and was caught in another tree. As Brandi said, "that's a widow maker."  I cut through it with a chain saw, knowing that it would remain stuck in the tree beside it, but at least 1 end would be free.

Cut another chunk off the trunk and now it was hanging free. Ok, we have now reached the real danger stage. When was it going to come loose and crash.

James tied a strap around it and 3 of us gave a pull. It came sliding down and caught in another tree. I was going to cut another piece off the trunk when James said, "I'll cut it." I found I was more nervous when he was cutting than when I had the saw in hand. He was almost cut through and he gave it a kick. The tree folded at the cut and the top 20 feet came right over backwards. It missed James by at least 2 feet when it slammed into the ground.

I couldn't help but think back to that chapel watching the world go flying by as I sat in a pew and being reminded that God is looking down. He was looking down when the tree trunk missed James. God was looking down when our windows came in earlier than expected for the house. I had a call this weekend from a man who is living in a hotel right now and needs a house. I could answer, "I think I have one for you next week." I have a lot of times when I can say, wow, God had that lined up just right didn't He? God is looking down and taking care of everything.